CHICAGO, June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Medical Association (AMA)
Alliance warned parents today of yet another Hollywood film that exposes
underage audiences to unnecessary smoking: "The Incredible Hulk." The AMA
Alliance, the volunteer arm of the American Medical Association (AMA),
includes more than 27,000 grassroots members working in their communities
to protect children and promote healthy lifestyles. Over the past two
years, they have paid particular attention to smoking in motion pictures,
and they are calling for an R rating for any film with irresponsible or
gratuitous tobacco images.

Universal Studios' "The Incredible Hulk" (PG-13) opens June 13 and is
one of the summer's most anticipated movies. The film is a follow-up to
2003's "Hulk," which was also PG-13 but did not contain tobacco imagery.
General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross is a character who did not smoke at all
during his appearances in the first film, but he is shown puffing on a
cigar in nearly every scene in this sequel.

"Shame on 'The Incredible Hulk' for unnecessarily adding smoking to a
sequel that would have been just as exciting and believable without it,"
said Dianne Fenyk, President of the Alliance. "Universal Studios and the
other Hollywood studios should be especially embarrassed for using comic
book movies, which they market to children and know youth will want to see,
to promote tobacco."

The AMA Alliance was also particularly surprised to find tobacco
imagery because of the people involved in "The Incredible Hulk." Its
leading actor, Edward Norton, has stated, "I don't smoke, and ... I am not
a fan of gratuitous smoking in films." And after Marvel Comics'
editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, lost his father to smoking-related lung
disease, he took the bold step of removing all smoking from Marvel
characters that previously smoked.

"Movies remain a major influence on our children, affecting their
behavior and shaping their perceptions of what is normal -- and even
'cool,'" added Fenyk. "The motion picture industry knows this and has taken
action by giving an R rating to movies that depict drug and alcohol use,
strong language or sexual behavior, and violence. Yet smoking, the
deadliest of all addictions, continues in youth-rated films, even when
their own industry colleagues oppose smoking in films."

Experts estimate that 3,900 children ages 12-17 try their first
cigarette every day in the United States. Studies also prove that 35
percent of new smoking in children ages 9-12 can be attributed to exposure
to smoking in movies -- and that exposure to such tobacco imagery predicts
established smoking behavior in adolescents.

May 10th marked the one year anniversary of the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA) announcing a change to its rating systems for
movies with smoking. They stated that "all smoking will be considered" with
the goal being to enhance "the amount of information provided to parents on
the issue of smoking in films."

But a year later, the MPAA continues to give PG and PG-13 ratings to
films with smoking. According to an analysis by public health advocates of
top box office films released in the 12 months following the MPAA
announcement, 38 percent of G and PG movies and 58 percent of PG-13 movies
featured tobacco products. More than half of all top box office films with
smoking in the 2007-2008 time period were youth-rated.

The same 12-month study found that 9 out of 10 youth-rated films
carried no tobacco warning in its description at all, and there is no
evidence that the MPAA increased the rating of any film to R because of
smoking content.

"Over the last few years, tobacco marketing geared to children has
rightly been phased out of the mainstream," said Dr. Gail Arthur, an AMA
Alliance member, parent and pediatrician from Harrisonburg, Virginia. "We
need Universal Studios and the other Hollywood studios to be part of a
solution that discourages smoking and reduces tobacco's influence. That
doesn't mean inconsistently burying warnings in the fine print. It means
upgrading any films with unnecessary smoking to an R rating."

In October 2006, the AMA Alliance joined the American Legacy Foundation
to launch Screen Out!, a campaign fighting for a mandatory R rating on all
films that depict unnecessary or irresponsible smoking. The AMA Alliance
also recommends eliminating product placements of specific tobacco brands,
certifying that no studios benefit from placements, and running effective
anti-smoking ads before any film with smoking.

"Instances of tobacco imagery in youth-rated films are particularly
alarming," said American Legacy Foundation President and CEO Cheryl
Healton, Dr. PH. "We hope that parents will consider the impacts that
smoking in movies can have on their own children and feel empowered to
build the momentum behind this issue on a national level."

The AMA Alliance is encouraging its 27,000 members to alert their local
media and communities about the smoking in "The Incredible Hulk," as well
as to continue pressuring the MPAA, Universal Studios and its other studio
members to remove smoking once-and-for-all from youth-rated films.

The studios (Paramount, Disney Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century
Fox, Universal and Warner Brothers) are owned by the media corporations
that make up the MPAA: Disney, Time Warner, Sony, Viacom, General Electric
and the News Corporation.

About the AMA Alliance

The AMA Alliance, the volunteer arm of the American Medical
Association, is committed to public health promotion in their
organizational mission. A not-for-profit organization of more than 26,000
grassroots members working in their communities, the AMA Alliance strives
to ensure child safety, prevent abuse and violence, promote healthy
lifestyles and increase awareness of available health care resources. Visit
http://www.screenout.org.

About the American Legacy Foundation

The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world
where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. The Washington,
D.C., foundation develops programs that address the health effects of
tobacco, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately
affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and
training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and
grassroots marketing campaigns. The Foundation was created from the
November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement reached between attorneys general
from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit
http://www.americanlegacy.org.

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